When homeowners invest in furnaces, they expect them to serve them by keeping the house warm when the temperatures outside plummet. If you have been working closely with furnace service providers and tuning up your unit regularly, you can enjoy your furnace without worrying that it will come to a stop.

While this is the case, the furnace can stop working for absolutely no reason. You have cleaned it, tuned it up, but it just grinds to a stop.

Wondering what to do if the furnace stops working in winter? Well, there are plenty of things you can do. Some of the common ones being:

Use the space heater

Besides having a furnace, you most likely have a space heater in the house, right? If the furnace didn’t go out due to a power outage, you should use the space heater to heat the house. To have an easier time, gather everyone in one room so that you warm each other.

If this is the first time using a space heater, place it on a level surface and don’t place a drape or anything close to it as it can catch fire. You also should never leave the heater unattended.

Use your fireplace

Do you have a wood or gas fireplace you haven’t been using? This is the time to turn it on. After turning it on, sit around the fireplace and enjoy the warmth.

Cook

Haven’t prepared dinner? This is the time to do it. If you have already cooked and there is a cake or biscuits you have been meaning to bake, but you haven’t gotten round to doing it, now is the time to bake them.

Turn on the oven and bake or cook something to pass the time and at the same time warm up the house.

While the oven is highly effective at keeping the house warm, never turn on the oven or stove to heat the house as it’s a serious fire hazard.

Besides having the oven and stove on, you should make soup to stay warm.

Minimize opening and closing the door

If the furnace has been heating the house and is well insulated, the heat will be held in the house for a long time. To prevent the hot air from leaking, minimize opening and closing the door. This is easy if you live alone, but it can be a challenge if you have a large family or small kids.

Besides keeping the main door closed at all times, you also should close the doors of all the unnecessary rooms in the house. These include the media rooms, guest rooms, and hobby rooms. By doing this, you keep most of the warm air in the sitting room (heart of the house), so you can go for even longer without needing to heat the house.

Dress warm

It goes without saying that you should dress warmly to fight off the cold. When the temperatures plummet, this is the time to wear scarves, fluffy socks, sweaters, hats, gloves, and boots. If it’s still cold after dressing in layers, cover yourself in a blanket.

Try to troubleshoot the problem.

Sometimes the reason for the furnace not working is a minor issue that you can easily fix, so you should try troubleshooting it. The first place to check is the thermostat. Check whether it’s set to heat the house and set it 5 degrees above the room temperature.

You also should check the batteries and confirm that they aren’t dead.

If the furnace was recently serviced, chances are the service professional switched off the furnace when working on it. Check whether the furnace is on and if not, turn it on.

If it’s on, check the circuit breaker or fuse and ensure they are in good standing.

Get in touch with an emergency repair professional

If you have checked everywhere and all the parts are working properly, the problem might be complex, and it’s better looked at by an experienced emergency furnace repair service long Island provider.

You should note that emergency repair professionals tend to be more expensive than regular service providers, so you should budget for it.